“Protecting clean athletes” should No Longer Remain a slogan, but a mission. The over-used “zero tolerance” should be removed from the anti-doping lexicon. It has been made into a mockery.
The International Olympic committee president Thomas Bach leaving a press conference following an Olympic summit in Lausanne. The IOC on July 24, 2016, decided not to hit Russia with a blanket ban for the Rio Games over state-run doping, but said each sports federation needed to establish an athlete’s individual eligibility. Federations “should carry out an individual analysis of each athlete’s anti-doping record, taking into account only reliable adequate international tests, and the specificities of the athlete’s sport and its rules, in order to ensure a level playing field,” the IOC said in a statement.
Many Olympians, leading National Anti-Doping Organisations (NADOs), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and hundreds and thousands of fans across the globe expected the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to put a blanket ban on Russia from the Rio Olympics.
With 12 days to go for the Olympics opening, the IOC, however, took the softer option of leaving things to the international federations. An elaborate set of conditions was formulated by the IOC, while passing the buck to the federations, the most important point being the anti-doping record of the athlete concerned, in any sport, the emphasis justifiably on “international tests.”
Russia has said that the majority of the eligible athletes had already undergone tests conducted by the UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) during the past few months, in collaboration with WADA. It is to be seen how many will eventually make it.
Is It practical for all concerned to finish this process within the short time available? That was the first question that came up when the IOC took its much-awaited, long-debated decision.
This story is from the August 6, 2016 edition of Sportstar.
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This story is from the August 6, 2016 edition of Sportstar.
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